Tomorrow morning, I head back to Aqueduct for the first time in a month. On March 12, I was in Saratoga, dropping off a Backstretch feline for a winter sojourn; on the 19th, I drove through Aqueduct en route to a flight to Florida; on the 26th, I was on the beach; on April 2, I was at Gulfstream. A lovely month, no doubt…but it’s good to be home.
Since January, I’ve been taking a photo each Saturday from the press box, documenting the progress of the demolition and construction of the grandstand, in prepareation for the opening of the casino late this summer. In my absence, Jerry Bossert of the Daily News graciously took photos and sent them to me.
This weekend’s update will be posted on Twitter tomorrow afternoon; if you don’t already, please follow me there, and if you’re on Facebook, I hope that you will “like” the Brooklyn Backstretch page.
Jessica Chapel also has a little Aqueduct wistfulness on the mind.
We’ve got three Derby preps this weekend – the Wood Memorial, the Santa Anita Derby, and the Illinois Derby – so don’t forget to activate your power horses. And I profusely apologize to those of you who favored Premier Pegasus: I added him to my stable last week, thereby virtually guaranteeing that he’d earn no further points on the Derby trail, though his injury, and not just poor performance, adds a whole new level to my jinxiness.
Our Road to the Roses Charity League donation is up to $520. All I can say is, “Wow.” Your generosity overwhelms me.
Walt Gekko has pulled neck and neck with Ashley Herriman, with Jenny Kellner just a point behind. I’m not sure that I want to be around those latter two at Aqueduct this weekend when the races are going off; bragging rights in the office are surely on the line.
January 22, 2011
January 29, 2011
February 5, 2011
February 19, 2011
February 26, 2011
March 12, 2011
March 19, 2011
March 29, 2011
March 29, 2011
from the AirTrain, March 31, 2011
April 2, 2011
Brooklyn Backstretch 
No comments between your writing and this, and that’s at least a full week of empty opportunity. Perhaps your readership has been awed by the contrasting, stark photographic images that accompany the otherwise constructive text. I am, and that’s for sure.
Maybe Hamlet’s Act V, scene 1 soliloquy should come to mind as he fondly remembers the good court jester, Yorick, and how he knew him; how he remembered him as a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. Alas, poor Aqueduct! I knew him, Teresa; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times and now, how abhorred in my imagaination it is! To see evidence of this caustic demolition sends home the unhappy sentiment that There is something rotten in the state of Racing!
Sorry about the dramatic content, but those pictures are hard to look at for one who has been away for a long time.
Applause, applause, Marshall! I love this! And this version of Aqueduct will get its full eulogy closing weekend.